What We Fight For
by H4mmond
Summary: War has ravaged the Frontier for years. The Militia, now a terrorist military, fights to control the Frontier, while Hammond, a better version of the IMC, fights to save it. When the war reaches her planet, Samantha, a former farm hand, now must decide which side to believe, who to trust, and figure out what she fights for. (OC, HEAVY MILITIA BASHING)
1. Prelude (07-06 05:32:20)

**So remember when I said I needed some more background on the Hammond Empire as a whole? Yeah, this would be the story to do that. I wanted to do this story originally as a "join the Militia" type that we see all over the Titanfall FFN page. Then I realized no one ever talks about the other side, the IMC or Hammond. So here it is, the other side. With a title change, of course.**

 _It is 2178, and Humanity has colonized the stars. Earth holds a grip on this 'Frontier', keeping a tab on Humanity. That is, until Hammond Robotics and their subsidiary the Interstellar Mining Corporation took control of it from a weakened Earth. The IMC ran the Frontier ruthlessly, cutting and leaving planets dry with no regard to the settlers. Many planets were destroyed, and up until then, no one dared speak out. That is, until the creation of the Militia. The Militia was a group of space pirates, farmers, criminals, and others the IMC deemed as a 'terrorist'. The tension eventually came to a head, and the Titan War began. The Militia was winning at first, until the IMC deployed their newest weapon, the Titan. Titans were metal behemoths capable of decimating entire battalions with ease. With these, the IMC forced the Militia to retreat for months. Eventually, the Militia started to deploy Titans, but it had little effect. It wasn't until the destruction of the IMC refueling port, the only access the IMC fleets had to the Frontier, did the Militia start winning. The Militia thought they were victorious, the IMC was at its breaking point. The IMC fell back to their core planets, and the Militia were ready to destroy the IMC. That is, until Hammond Robotics, who had been watching from the Core, jumped into the fight. Hammond, with almost unlimited resources and units, absorbed the IMC into their forces and began fighting the Militia. The fight soon went back to the starting lines from the Titan War starting frontlines. The fight seemed to stalemate, until the attrition was too much for the Militia. They were steadily pushed back, and many were wondering if the fight was over. Only then, did the Militia resort to their more inhumane tactics…_

 _After the IMC had left the planets that were destroyed, the survivors usually just continued to work. They found ways around the lack of mineable resources, using solar and hydroelectric means. Those planets were now dubbed the 'unaligned' planets. These were the settlers who were now farmers, working the land and selling the food grown to either the Militia or Hammond. They weren't valuable planets anymore, but many saw themselves as the New Frontier. These planets were peaceful, unbothered by the war raging on in the Old Frontier, as it was now called. The peace was, however, shattered. The Militia, fueled by rage that they were losing the war, turned to the New Frontier for soldiers. They occupied planets, forced people into their military, it was the IMC all over again. The New Frontier tried to fight, until they realized that they couldn't stop the Militia. It took a lot of arguing, and the New Frontier decided to swallow their pride and forget their history. They called for Hammond, they needed their help._

 _The fight rages on some planets in the New Frontier, most planets only agreed to call Hammond because of the massive fear that the Militia would come for them next. Hammond agreed, promising to deal with the Militia on both the Old and New Frontier. Many planets thanked them, very few were aggressive against Hammond, and the rest were neutral. Hammond also promised to give the New Frontier their freedom after the war had concluded. The New Frontier was now the next battleground. The Titan War had moved to the Frontier War. And our story begins, on a planet that has yet to be introduced to the conflict…_

 **Planet Hyrt (pronounced hurt)- Unaligned**

Dawn had broke over the skyline of the planet. The world was just awakening, and the inhabitants of Hyrt were just getting ready for the day. But for one person, the day had already begun.

Samantha Welder was a farmer on the planet. She worked long days on the farm, growing wheat and corn in abundance. She would start her day at precisely 4 am. She worked on the farm till noon, then would go have lunch with her friends, return to finish any other jobs, have dinner, they go to bed at around 7ish. Repeat that, and you have her life since graduating high school in a nutshell, which was only a year ago. Life was pleasant on Hyrt, the Hammond military was keen on following the guidelines set by the New Frontier Republic. They would not invade or relocate to a planet unless the Militia were present. Hammond had followed it down to the letter. The Militia had been destroying NFR Planets for some time, and Samantha knew they would come to Hyrt eventually. Thankfully, it wasn't going to be today. She returned to farming, thinking about where she was going to have lunch at today.

 **12 pm: Downtown area, 15 minutes…**

Sam walked into the diner, and scanned the place for her friends. She saw them sitting in a booth near the back. She walked over to them, saying her hellos to them. They all discussed simple things, what had happened last night, some random trivia, why the author was so bad at writing about the simple things of everyday as the said person furiously types up the story on an IPad at 10pm at night.

(Wait when did I add that?)

Amongst it all, there was an elephant in the room. On NFR Planets, every conversation had this problem.

"So, when do you guys think the Militia will come?" Micah asked.

"Oh, hopefully never. Hammond gives them a good thrashing whenever they fight." Todd responded, with Jenny agreeing. "What do you think, Sam?"

"I hope they never come, but they probably will. The Militia have their ways at sneaking out of Hammond's grasp."

They all mumbled varying degrees of agreement. Suddenly, the lights went out in the diner.

"Aww man, you think the hydro dam is down again?" Todd asked, the hydro dam had a tendency to break down.

"No, they fixed it yesterday. And it never breaks two days in a row."

Sam looked out the window, watching people wonder what was happening. Outside, people were roaming the streets. Suddenly, she saw a people running away from something. She heard a low droning noise, and then everything went south.

A long brrrrrrrrtttt was heard, and holes opened up on the street outside. Many people fell, instantly killed by whatever it was. Sam and the others ducked down, and people inside the diner started panicking. A jet flew over, then another, and another, and many more until multiple spaceships flew over the downtown area. There were many types, like the whole fleet was hastily put together, but everyone knew who it was.

The Militia had arrived.

 **Alright, can't wait to see how this goes. If it is anything like how I usually write, we'll burn out at around Ch7. But we'll see. Read and Review!**


	2. Hammond

**(Ahem) A/N at the end of the chapter.**

 **Above Planet Hyrt**

"Commander Hodges, the invasion has gone just as planned! The planet has been completely occupied." A junior officer reported.

"Excellent, finish up your report and I will send it to High Command." Commander Hodges responded, dismissing the officer. The officer left, and Hodges went back to overseeing the bridge. The operation to capture Hyrt was to subjugate the local populace, then to brainwash the military-fit people to be put into the Militia forces. The stronger ones would be put into Pilot programs. Hodges knew the strategy was inhumane to the farthest extent as inhumane things go, but the Militia was losing more and more ground to the Hammond Empire everyday. Many planets of the Old Frontier were taken from the Militia, and many failed operations later none had been put back into Militia hands. Hammond had too many resources and too much backing from the public. However, the Militia strategy was improving the odds. Slightly, they had recaptured ground that had been lost to the IMC and Hammond.

The IMC. Hodges paled at the thought of what had happened to the IMC at the hands of the Hammond Empire. Hammond hadn't approved of the IMC's ways of dealing with the Militia and how they handled the Frontier. So they simply crushed them.

Two months. That's all Hammond needed to destroy the IMC. Any soldiers that hadn't joined Hammond from the IMC died with them. The Militia took what they could from the aftermath, and fought to protect what they could.

However, what had baffled the Militia the most was the amount of time they had lasted against Hammond. They couldn't fully destroy the IMC or the Remnant fleet fully, but the IMC's last ditch effort of teaming with the Remnant fleet extended the fight, but ended with destruction of both of them. So the only question was: How long till the Militia fell? The answer, hopefully, would never come.

Until…

"Commander, the MCS _Vindicator_ and her fleet are reporting inbound ships! Matching Hammond classifications!" An officer reported.

"How long till-"

Forty _Andromeda_ carriers and thirty-four battleships jumped into the system, behind them came two _Colossus_ ships. Standard Hammond fleet movement. The size wasn't anything new either. Hammond fleets were composed of IMC Frontier fleet ships that defected to Hammond, IMC Core fleet ships, and the rest were Hammond made. The Militia had fourteen MacAllan Carriers and twenty "Brick" ships for their fleet above Hyrt. Seventy-six to thirty-four, not good odds for the Militia, but it was always like this.

Hammond ships released their Phantom fighter squadrons, almost like a tidal wave against the Militia fleets fighters, the Hornet class fighters. The Hornets barely outmatched the Phantoms in tech when in equal numbers, but Hammond never brought small numbers to a fight. The fighters clashed, and the ships began firing missiles and long range cannons at each other. The Hammond ships moved to closer, destroying any Militia fighters close to them with point defense fire. The _Colossus_ ships, however, stayed back.

Hodges, however, wasn't focusing on that right now. "Have our ground forces prepare to evac whoever they can! Our soldiers have priority, then we take as many of the colonists as we can! We need those new troops!" He ordered, the bridge scrambling to relay the orders to the ground forces. Hodges turned to the fight, watching one of his carriers explode into flames, and falling back down to the planet. Many of the _Brick_ ships were being vaporized, while the remainder valiantly fought to protect the carriers. A stray missile struck Hodges' ship, the MCS _Iron_ , causing little damage. However, the next shot wasn't so kind. A cannon shot broke through the armor of the _Iron_ , and exploded inside of the ship. The ship's portside burst into flames.

"Commander, decks 3F-15D are reporting flames! All of deck 16 has lost pressurization! The engine is failing!"

"Do something, Goddammit!"

"Yessir! Prepare to-"

Another shot ripped through _Iron_ , but exploded next to her core. The core held for about a second after the explosion, only to cause an explosion that engulfed the ship in flames. The next moment, the ship broke apart, reduced to scrap metal in space. The rest of the Carriers fought on, but failed to notice the _Colossus_ ships move over the Militia fleet. They snuck past it, and entered orbit above Hyrt. The doors on the bottom of the ships opened. First, Goblins dropped out from the ship, some with their holding bays cut out so that they could carry down Paladin tanks while others held troops and pilots. Then, drop pods and Titans fell from the ship to clear out zones on the planet's surface. Then, fighters were deployed to deal with any escaping Militia dropships.

Meanwhile, the fleets were still fighting, but the Militia ships were either destroyed or close to it. The acting fleet commander ordered for a retreat, and the Militia ships left the system. Unfortunately, the Crows leaving the planet, while being chased by fighters from Hammond, were shocked to see nothing remaining of their fleet except wreckages of hulls and burning metal. The dropships were soon shot down, and the Space Battle of Hyrt was over.

Now all that was left to do was to destroy the remaining Militia forces on the ground…

 **So...yeah. I had hoped to get back to this story sooner, but I was preoccupied by moving and my other stories. I don't expect anything good to come from this, considering that A) I basically just made the Militia significantly weaker compared to Hammond, and B) I made them evil, while I don't see them as evil in the Lore, I just find it unrealistic that a bunch of farmers, criminals, and so forth suddenly can defeat a force that holds the technological, economical, and numerical advantage such as the IMC. Before I get hit with "It's just a video game!" I will happily respond with, "Okay." I agree, it is a video game. I personally enjoy the good guys winning despite all odds, at least when I was younger. But now that I look at the world, I realize that video games and other media that do this do it to for the reason of just making a happy ending, and I respect that. But I wanted to make something that sheds light on what** _ **MIGHT**_ **have happened in the game if it was to realistic standards in more areas. However, I didn't want to make Hammond evil like the IMC is (are they evil? Debate below), so I made them destroy the IMC and push the Militia to the edge. Thus, causing them to do what they will in the story (Yeah, they get worse.) If there is any problems, or you would like to talk to me, PM me your issue or topic and I will respond.**

 **Oh, and please don't make it an angry message. I don't fully know the Titanfall fandom to give judgment of it, but I would like to assume we are all mature enough to have a reasonable discussion.**

 **Thanks -H4mmond**

 **PS: I apologize in advance for anything that might offend anyone in the story. Also, apologies for any bad grammar.**


	3. Decisions Pt 1

**Chapter 3 time**

 **Planet Hyrt**

Samantha was running down an alleyway as Militia soldiers chased her. They were firing their Hemlock rifles at her, but the soldiers were greenhorns, their shots going way wide. Samantha turned a corner and hid behind a trash can. The Militia ran right past, not bothering to turn. Sam peeked up from her hiding spot, and kneeled back down. She considered her options, and she didn't like them. First, she could wait for help, but that was about as low as one could get. Second, she could try to leave the town to a spaceport that hadn't been captured by the Militia yet, but considering how the Militia operated, all the spaceports had probably been taken. Lastly, she could surrender and join the Militia, however she threw that option out immediately. The Militia had been rounding up entire planets' populations for their needs, whether it be grunts, pilots, leaders, or something in between. She would be used, and thrown away like garbage on a battlefield as a corpse and be replaced the exact minute she expired.

The Second Frontier War was drastically different from the previous conflicts. The war was much larger, and the politics and causes behind it had changed side. Instead of the Militia actually trying to free the Frontier, they were trying to control both the Old and New Frontiers and recruit the masses to fight their wars against whoever spoke against them. The change had come after Hammond jumped into the war, and the Militia feared the power. They turned dark, fast. The Militia took entire populations and brainwashed them to fight the enemy without question. They had burned towns, cities, and planets, all because the people had supported Hammond.

Speaking of which, the Hammond Empire was the phoenix that had risen from the ashes of the Interstellar Mining Company. The Hammond Empire, known simply as Hammond, was named after Hammond INC, who had previously been the IMC, but splintered from the company after multiple reports came to light that the IMC had been doing actions that would be considered war crimes. Hammond then proceeded to produce their own units on their Core Planets. Once the United Earth Faction fell from power, a short democratic period followed until Hammond staged their own military coup. The leader of Hammond, now known as the Emperor Commander, ascended to power, and led a huge fleet to the Frontier. Hammond forces essentially ignored the Militia at first, focusing on the IMC. Majority of the IMC Navy, Airforce, and Marines went to Hammond, and were welcomed. Those branches hadn't been committing the crimes, the IMC Army had been the culprits. Hammond purged them with brutal efficiency, and left no record of them. Hammond, with access to a large source of planets, put the core planets to work on producing the mechanical parts of the Hammond military. The Frontier planets produced the human aspects, and were left to more or less their own devices. Hammond produced the largest standing army ever in less than two years, though most of it was mechanical.

The sides were clear. Hammond had a large mechanical army, and was hoping to free the Frontier from the Militia. The Militia was made up of fanatics who were brainwashed into wanting nothing but to destroy Hammond, and they had plenty of soldiers to die for that exact cause.

Samantha wanted to go home, but her home was on fire, burned by the Militia. She left her hiding spot, and went to find a new one. She was walking out when she quickly hid behind another trash can. She peeked up, watching the Militia commanders inside their Atlas titans order masses of soldiers out of the town center. Ogre titans were loading up their 40mm cannons, and when they were done they would leave the area. There was a barely audible noise of gunfire coming from the outskirts. Sam wondered what would rile up the Militia so fast, until she heard a noise coming from above her. She looked, and her eyes went wide. A Militia carrier ship was falling out of the sky, or rather half of one was. It landed somewhere far behind her, and she realized what had happened. Hammond was here, and they had absolutely shredded the Militia forces, or were currently doing so. She hoped they were almost through the Militia lines, and would free her planet.

 **Outskirts of Town**

The field that was usually peaceful and green was now consumed fire and corpses. Militia soldiers had dug into trenches and were laying fire onto the oncoming Hammond forces. Militia titans were firing at the same target. They seemed to be winning, but this battle had been lost from the start. The thing with Hammond was that they would send wave after wave of mechanical forces at the lines, and their current wave, which was the first wave, was now almost on top of the Militia. The Hammond Spectres were easy to make, cheap, and effective. They were the tip of the spear, and great at being it. The Hammond Paladin tanks, which were based off a certain older tank, were armed with dual 210mm cannons to deal with titans and armored with armor of a steel and ceramic mix with layers of depleted uranium. The Spectres hid behind the tanks, concealing them from the Militia, as bullets of infantry and titan caliber bounced off the Paladin's armor. Soon, the Paladins rolled over the trenches. The Militia soldiers turned and fired at the tanks, but they never saw the Spectres. The Spectres jumped into the trenches, and killed the Militia soldiers with ease. The Militia titans were destroyed by tank shots, and the Hammond force pushed further to the town.

Elsewhere, Hammond was having some difficulty. The Militia Ogres were holding down a smaller Hammond force from entering the town. The situation was quite grim, as summed up by one individual.

"The Militia have now figured out how to fight the war, someone call the press!" The soldier shouted, armed with the newest Hammond rifle, the R-301 carbine firing a 8.92 round, was hiding in crater formed from a stray 210mm round from a Paladin tank.

Another Hammond soldier jumped into the crater. "Hey, Rafton, what the hell are you doing in this hole?! We need to keep pushing!"

"Crap dude! I'm just amazed that the Militia are actually giving us a damn fight for once!"

"Rafton, we are pinned by Ogre titans and your focused on the fact that the Militia are keeping us at bay? Damn it man, I always knew you were crazy! But I gotta agree, this is better than usual!" At that moment, a stray 40mm round exploded nearby. "Yeah, they still can't aim though."

Rafton nodded, and ducked as rounds flew over the crater the two were in. He weighed his options, and was about to run towards the fight until he heard the familiar engine noise of Paladin tanks. The tanks fired their cannons, destroying the titans easily. Hammond Ogre titans pulled up the rear, unloading their XO-16s on enemy infantry. Rafton jumped out of his crater, joining the masses that pushed towards the town.

 **Town**

Sam was still hiding in the alleyway, hoping for Hammond to make it to the town, when her hopes were answered. Militia Atlas titans pointed to the east, when a 210mm shot hit one of them, destroying it. The titan fell, engulfed in flames. Sam ran from the safety of her garbage can cover, and as she ran she watched the Militia titans fire at an unseeable target. She hid behind a wall corner, and a nearby Militia grunt fell next to her, dead from a shot to the chest. Sam picked up the fallen's rifle, an old G2A4 model, and hid behind her cover. She cocked the loader on the rifle, and hoped all her shooting with her father was about to pay off. She turned the corner, aimed down the sight, and fired a single round. The Militia grunt she was aiming at was hit in the arm, and turned to face Sam. The grunt raised her usable arm, a P2016 in hand, and fired back. Sam turned back to cover, the rounds missing and hitting the corner. She turned and fired again, and the grunt did likewise. Sam zeroed in on the grunt's head, and fired. The round hit true, and the grunt fell. Sam went quickly back to cover as Militia Spectres started powering up, and firing at their Hammond counterparts. Hammond grunts, holding their R-301 rifles, fired at the Spectres, and kept them from doing any real damage. Sam decided to join the Hammond soldiers in shooting, as she had just finished reloading her rifle, but when she turned the corner she was met face to face with a Spectre, from the Militia side. The robot knocked away the G2 easily, and threw a right straight at Sam, who fell to the ground, her face bleeding. She watched as the Spectre raised its foot, intending to stomp her face in, when the robot was hit with a stream of 8.92 rounds. It fell, destroyed. Sam looked at the now dead robot, thankful that she was alive. She started to get up, when she came face to face with the person who saved her.

He was adorned with the typical Hammond grunt gear, holding a R-301 rifle painted red and black, with a large pauldron on his shoulder with the Hammond symbol (The Hammond power button with the H but the semicircle around it is an olive branch, being held by an Aquila). His left pauldron was smaller, and marked the soldier as a first lieutenant. He handed her the G2 rifle that got knocked away, which she gladly accepted, and the two turned back to the fight scene. The last Militia grunts were putting up a hectic final stand, but they were surrounded on all sides. The lead Hammond soldier raised his hand to signal the units to stop shooting, with the final enemy units holed up in three story building. The Hammond lieutenant and Sam walked to a nearby group of soldiers.

"Lieutenant Rafton, sir, the final Militia forces are holed up in this building," the soldier pointed to the three story, "And we aren't expecting them to surrender. Orders?"

The Lieutenant, Rafton, rubbed his chin in thought. "What if we try convincing them? I mean, this is the first time we have surrounded Militia forces. Give the Major his megaphone, see if he can convince them to stand down."

The soldier nodded, and motioned to the others to go find the megaphone. Sam looked towards Rafton. "Lieutenant, pardon the interruption, but why is it that Hammond has fought the Militia so many times but this is the first time you have surrounded the enemy and be able to try to make them surrender?"

Rafton turned to look down at the civilian, "Miss, Hammond has fought the Militia many times, but they always off themselves before we have a chance to get to them."

At that very moment, the Major from Hammond started speaking through the megaphone, asking for surrender of the Militia. In return, Sam heard the Militia respond, "Screw you fascists!". Sam was unsure what they meant by that, when the three story exploded. Rafton tackled Sam, covering her from the explosion. Sam heard nothing, and the world turned dark.

 **Review and Favorite- wait it doesn't work like that.**


	4. Chapter 4

**And now, for something completely different.**

 **Hammond Naval Vessel (HNV) Bolivia**

Lieutenant Michael Rafton was leaning on the railing overlooking the hospital wing. He watched the nurses, medics, and doctors work diligently and efficiently to help the wounded. Various religious figures were walking around as well, giving last rites to those who had died from their wounds or died in the battle. Rafton was upset, upset at the fact that his commander tried to negotiate with the Militia terrorists, upset that his commander got people hurt, and upset that the stupid commander died before anyone got the chance to punish him for it. Rafton sighed, and looked at a certain individual, the one he saved from the explosion. She was pretty, he was sure of that, but she seemed to be very sturdy. Most of the civilians the Hammond force had saved were scared beyond comprehension, which Rafton expected. The remainder were just shellshocked, complete husks of themselves, which Rafton also expected. But the girl? No, she was up and speaking to others. She was reassuring them that everything was going to be okay, and helping the nurses with some meager tasks. Rafton liked her, and hoped she would join the Hammond forces. They needed more human soldiers, since the Hammond military was just seemed a unfeeling machine these days. At least their robots weren't brainwashed fanatics, like the Militia.

The door behind Rafton opened, and he turned around to see who it was. The person was adorned in pilot gear, and had obviously been in multiple battles, evident by his dirty armor and the Hammond symbol barely present on his chestplate.

"Lieutenant, nice to see you're still alive. The others and I were afraid you didn't make it after the explosion." The pilot said, sounding relieved.

"Markus, you know it's going to take more than an improvised Militia explosive device to kill me. You guys probably had bets on what state I would come out in." Rafton said back, high-fiving his old friend. "Now, where the hell were you in the fight, we coulda used Junior in the fight where I was."

"Junior ain't meant to fight three Ogres at once. He's an Atlas Titan, remember?"

"Yeah, but...still, we missed you two out there. Any reason why no pilots were sent out?"

Markus took off his helmet, his tanned features and blue eyes worn from...whatever he did. "Our Group Commander told us it was going to be a milk run, and had us stay back to do what felt like a half-ton of paperwork. Evidently, this was not a milk run. I mean, most of your squad was wiped, right?"

Rafton turned back to the makeshift hospital below the two. "Yeah, I'm going to need some new soldiers. I have one I think will do, but getting a whole new squad together is going to be tough to not only do, but getting them to work together like a team is going to be especially rough."

"Yeah, and they have to pass the squad exams at the end of the training. The Army Training Corp sends over twelve thousand squads to them, only three thousand go into active roles. You think you can assemble a squad that will win not one but two fights?"

"Markus, I have to try. I don't care if I have to go up to Marder myself to get them in."

"I don't think General Marder will disagree with you. He's always up for recruiting the New Frontier planets to fight for us instead of Hammond lives. The only thing stopping him is our shaky alliance with the New Frontier, they would have a fit if we tried recruiting their people."

Rafton sighed, and went back to watching the girl he saved help others. He wanted so badly to talk to her about it, but he knew deep down she wasn't going to go easy.

 **Makeshift Hospital, AKA Hangar 14 of the HNV Bolivia**

Sam was exhausted.

She had been helping the medics and others with their patients and anything else they needed. Her body wanted rest, but her mind said to help others rest before she could. Sam had gotten friendly with some others around the hospital, people from her planet and some Hammond personnel as well. They seemed nice and, evident by the number of different religious figures walking around, were very lax about religious expression. The Militia banned religion, as they feared it got in the soldier's way of doing their job of exterminating 'Hammond scum'. Another reason not to join them. Sam wasn't taking the loss of her home as hard as others were. Her friends that survived were shaken to the core, their homes were demolished and their lives changed from farmers and merchants to refugees from one Militia attack. Sam tried to comfort them, but they were too shaken to care. She left them to professionals who knew how to deal with these things, and went to leave to find the cafeteria or at least someplace with food. Sam left the hangar, and walked through a grey hallway. She passed two Hammond soldiers, who were armed with Flatlines painted grey. They walked away, not saying a word or showing a single emotion. Sam was a little nerved by this, it seemed Hammond had two faces for their military, cold and unnerved by threats or friendly and caring. She shrugged, and kept walking down the hallway. She turned a corner, and almost ran into another person. She quickly apologized, before realizing it was the lieutenant from the attack.

"Ah, it's you. I was looking for you." He said. "Come with me, I need to speak to you." He led her to a secluded spot in the hallway. "Listen, I know your planet was just attacked by the Militia, and you may be still trying to figure out why-"

"I'm not." Sam interrupted

"Okay, but still. It's a bit early to ask, but I saw you fighting down there, on Hyrt. Whether it was for us or against the Militia, it remains to be seen, but I, among the others here, were wondering if you would want to join us."

Sam was a bit taken back. Yes, she knew she fought the Militia, but she herself couldn't really place why she did it. Was it for Hammond? Or against the Militia? Why did she pick up the gun and start shooting back? These questions, and others, filled her mind. She pushed it all away, or tried to at least. She focused back on the lieutenant, "I need to think about. I need some time, consider my options."

The lieutenant nodded, and started to walk off, but not before saying "If you have an answer for me, then just ask for Lieutenant Rafton. I'll wait till we drop you off back at Hyrt, when we know the planet is secure." He walked away, leaving a pondering Sam to her own devices. However, she just realized something.

"Dammit, I forgot to ask where the hell the cafeteria was."

 **Miserily, Militia Capital Planet**

Two figures stood on an elegant balcony, overlooking a not so pleasant sight of factories puffing smog into the bleak sky. The planet itself was already in a horrible shape, this was only worse. The two figures were adorned with different clothing. The one on the right was wearing white robes, while also wearing a black cape with the Militia Skull on it. His waist had but only a regular sword on the left and a Wingman revolver on the right. The left figure was wearing military clothes, his chest adorned with ribbons and some medals. The two seemed to be speaking about something, but they were speaking in hushed tones.

"The Fifthteen Fleet was destroyed over the new planet we found, maybe something around two million lost in the battle, space and ground." The robed one said.

"I thought they got away? The commandant was killed, but the acting one reported they got out of the fight." The Military one said.

"Yes, they did leave, but a hasty jump led them straight into a space fight between the Seventy-Fourth fleet and one of the fascists fleet near the Lazuli Star, the Fifthteenth was destroyed in the fight, the Seventy-Fourth got away, but not without losses."

"Hmm…" The military one was deep in thought, and looked back at the factories. Out in the distance, a new converted tanker rose from the factories, with it being surrounded by carriers and brick ships. The reconstructed Fifthteenth fleet was ready to go once more. The military one nodded, and turned back to the robed one, "I wonder if the fascists know if Hyrt is very important?"

"I doubt it, they destroyed our forces, and are in the process of securing it. If they don't know, they will soon, regardless if we take it back or not." The robed one responded.

"Then assemble the Tenth, Sixteenth, and Twentieth Fleets to go take it back, tell them to form up with the Fifthteen, and they shall secure the planet from the fascists. Hammond must not have Hyrt. Am I understood?"

The robed one turned to him, his face now seen obscured by a skull mask. "Yes, High Commandant. Crystal." And with that, he walked away.

The High Commandant turned back to the skyline, his face curling into a smile. "Soon, Hammond, you will crumble to the might of my new army. And all your technology, fascism, and tin cans won't save you from your fate."


End file.
